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Panel
The Mock The Week panel consists of a host with two teams of three. The current panel consists of Hugh Dennis with two guests seated on Ó Briain's right, while on Ó Briain's left is Andy Parsons with two guests. Presenter The show is presented by Dara Ó Briain who had previously presented episodes of the Irish television series and the British television series . For the first four series the show would start with Ó Briain standing in the performance area recapping the week's news with additional jokes, this was scrapped for the fifth series and Ó Briain then started at his desk, he now stand in the performance area for clips show only. Teams To host's right For the first seven series Hugh Dennis and Frankie Boyle were regular panelists who were joined by a guest in each episodes. For twelfth episode of the seventh series Boyle was unable to attend recording due to an illness and Dennis was joined by two guests. On 2 October 2009, the BBC announced that Frankie Boyle would not be returning to the show "due to other television commitments". He has not been replaced by a permanent panelist and Dennis has been joined by two guests for the further series. To host's left For the first two series Rory Bremner was the regular and he was joined by two guests. For series three Andy Parsons was made a permanent panelist who was, like Bremner, joined by two guests. During that series Russell Howard appeared in four out of the six regular episodes, however he only became a regular from the following series. Russell Howard left the show at the end of the ninth series and Parsons has been joined by two guests for the further series. Parsons left the show at the end of Series 14 and the team consists of only three guests ever since. Guests The following have appeared on the show as a guest (up to December 6, 2019) * before becoming a regular panellist. Captains Although Hugh Dennis is in effect a team captain (and is sometimes referred to as such in publicity material), such a distinction is never made on the programme itself. For the first two series Rory Bremner was considered to be the other team captain, however he left the show after series 2 and was replaced by a different guest panelist each week (although Andy Parsons was made a permanent panellist). In effect, Dennis' opposition do not have a team captain. Scoring Although each episode has a winning and losing team, the entire show exists mainly to provide starting points for 'improvised' comedy routines rather than to function as a serious competition. Specific scores are never referred to, and it has been stated by Ó Briain comically that the scoring system is in fact "a load of bollocks". Indeed, after each round, the number of points awarded to a team is never stated; instead Dara just gives "the points" to the team he judges should receive them. In one particular episode, Dara admitted that winners of each round and point allocation was not based on anything specific, and viewers should "stop e-mailing." Press Pit and Performance Area Next to Dennis's team is the Press Pit, which is a large desk where they play a round called Between The Lines. Next to this is the Performance Area which is a much wider area with a large television monitor, normally used for stand-up and improvisation challenges such as Spinning The News and Scenes We'd Like To See. External links *The Panel at mocktheweek.tv Category:Panel